NASA CoLab and The Tech Mix Real Life with Second Life

This just in... story to follow.
See the attached slide show on scrapblog.com

Materials Matter

Want to determine the shape of things to come? Material ConneXion is a unique world source that physically and virtually connects users and manufacturers with innovative materials. The is a surprisingly endless library of museum style exhibits of some form featuring innovation such things as Titanium, materials used in tension in architecture, ecological materials and digital technology to name a few. In total it is the largest global resource of new materials. http://www.materialconnexion.com/PA1.asp

Ideas That Spread Win

Not all marketers are liars -- maybe low trust enabled. Thankfully some are more authentic than others. The truth is the reason we buy things is because of the stories we tell ourselves. Seth Godin is the author of six best sellers, including Permission Marketing, an Amazon Top 100 bestseller for a year and a Fortune Best Business Book. His newest book, All Marketers are Liars , has already made the Amazon Top 100 and has inspired its own blog. Seth is also a renowned speaker, and was recently chosen as one of "21 Speakers for the Next Century" by Successful Meetings Magazine and is consistently rated among the best speakers by the audiences he addresses. Don't watch this if you use funnels in your Power Point slides or ever wondered why 9 women working in perfect harmony can't have a baby in a month.

tumbler.

What is tumblelog? To make a simple analogy: If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks. You can also look at tumblelogs as slightly more structured blogs that make it easier, faster, and more fun to post and share stuff you find or create. I've started a tumbler myself and find it to be very fast like a Wiki but much more robust. www.tumblr.com

Exponential Change and Robotics

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence hosted the Singularity Summit 2007. One such guest speaker. Dr. Rodney Brooks, Robotics Professor from MIT talks about Singularity: A Period Not An Event. He points out that we over estimate the future in the short term and we under estimate the future in the long term. For example in 1783 the first hot air balloon was launched in France. Do you think anyone was saying, 'hey, do you think will be able to travel around the world in 24 hours'? He points out that Moores Law will lead to iPods in your pocket will hold 40,000,000 gigabytes by 2025. He also points out that a chip with 64 cores was just released each running independently on Linux. The U.S. Military had zero robots in action in 2001. By 2002 over 5,000 were being thrown through windows and dropping off roofs in the Middle East. What if we build an intelligence that doesn't know we are here and we won't know it's there? Rut-Roh?!

The Long Now Foundation

Since it's the beginning of the new year I was thinking now would be a good time to look toward the future. That being said, it would be the only responsible thing to plan for the long term with a foundation of three enduring principles that allow for positive change. Open Minds, Finding Common Ground, and a Sense of Purpose. What better place on the web to listen to a Podcast than from SALT - Seminars About Long Term Thinking, hosted by Stewart Brand. Rosabeth Moss Kanter eloquently speaks about these enduring principles. I invite you to listen and the many more speakers for free from The Long Now Foundation.

GYRO My Web VRMAG.org

Welcome to a bubble party of interactive panoramas from all over the world!
From Abu Dhabi to Wien, passing by locations such as Chernobyl, Cocoon Club, Madame Toussauds, and Second Life just to name a few. Enter into a bottle, iron underwater. Learn to stitch as a pro, meet Carel Struyken, Patrick Cheatham... Relax, unwind and immerse yourself in a journey of discovery through places, events and people… VRMAG.org

Second Life Meeting @ Work

I had my very first official meeting in world on Second Life at work today. My fellow coworker Dannette Veale gave me a few Linden Dollars for some new skin and we went on a tour to review some projects under construction. Not to mention I was shown how to make a slide presentation and use a white board in Second Life. I'm in awe at the moment about the incredible potential for future development. BTW I read that the Gartner Group said that by the year 2011 80% of all interactions on the web will be done through your Avatar.

Musicophilia

Tales of music and the brain by author Oliver Sacks

. An unparalleled chronicler or modern medicine and observation to music and its relationship to the brain. he will leave you a little more attuned to the remarkable complexity of human beings and a bit more conscious of the role of music in our lives.

The Web Page is Dead

The work of Johnathon Harris combines elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art and storytelling, and design systems to explore and explain the human world. He has made projects about human emotion, human desire, modern mythology, science, news and language and created the world's largest time capsule. 27

Stampede!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV7RLVBK4Bo
This is what happens when Second Life runs wild. Your SL is normal one second and then the next second whoa. I have already been the unfortunate by stander of one such 'Thwomp'.

My Second Life Avatar Welcomes You

I was recently granted access to Second Life at my place of work. My avatar and bearings are pretty fuzzy at the moment. I have had a few decent conversations with other avatars after poking around different places. It looks to me that a lot of time and effort has been spent developing this digital world. Here are a few snaps taken from teleporting excursions after work. lol

What the Investment Industry is Silent On

Efficient Frontier Theory: It's a fact: you can positively impact only one aspect of investment performance—your allocation of assets among broad asset classes. Stock or mutual fund picking and market timing, the things traditionally thought to be critical to investment success, turn out to be almost irrelevant. How can this be?

Over 10 years ago, Gary Brinson, a noted finance academic and money manager, studied a group of pension fund managers. He found that he could explain over 90% of the differences in variability among these investment professionals simply by classifying them according to how much of their assets they placed in stocks, bonds, or cash. Stock picking or market timing skill? Try as though he might, he found no evidence of either among these investors practicing their craft at the apex of the profession. The significance of this for small investors is profound—find the "right" mix of foreign and domestic stocks and bonds, and your choice of individual securities becomes almost irrelevant in the long run.

How the investor arrives at the "right" mix is called "portfolio theory," and until recently small investors had precious little guidance in this vitally important area. How difficult is it to find the "right" mix? Surprisingly easy. Consider this: If over the past 10 or 20 years you had simply held a portoflio consisting of one quarter each of indexes of large U.S. stocks, small U.S. stocks, foreign stocks and high quality U.S. bonds, you would have beaten over 90% of all professional money managers and with considerably less risk. The amazing truth is that over a long enough time period almost any reasonably balanced indexed strategy will best the overwhelming majority of "professional" managers.

Mass Collaboration 'It's All Good'

Wikinomics Author Don Tapscott finds his way on stage with Google CEO to discuss the transformation of technology and economics. Wikinomics is a book about mass collaboration and how that in fact changes everything. This is just one in a series of interviews sponsored by Authors@Google.

DRUM CAMP to Commence

This weekend should be uber fun. Drum Camp up at the Lake House will be a reunion of sort among some the most talented drummers I know on the face of the earth. Good ole BBQ, Kayaking, Paddle Boating, Swimming in the pool, Billards, Adult Beverages, Movies projected on bedsheet on the deck under the stars and not to mention big beats on dejembes around the fire pit. It will be great to be around friends of like mind and spirit.

Culture Code

This book is just plain astonishing! Filled with profound insights and ideas that have enormous consequences for today's organizations. If you want to understand customers, constituencies, and crowds. this book is required

Milton Glaser on Ten Things I Have Learned

I had an opportunity a few years back to attend a course taught by this great man. It has changed my life for the better. Here is a quote below from one of his essays, The Things I Have Learned.

YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle. More.

Life Casting With Ronald Lewis

I think Ronald may be doing one of the greatest things since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Digital lifestyle, which consists of lifecasting, podcasting and blogging to engage the world without boundaries.

His life is about engaging people. From the world's most respected CEOs to renowned entertainers, He has had the rare privilege to connect with and learn from some of the world's most admired people. Personal favorites include Bill Gates, J.B. Hunt, Donald J. Schneider, former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald and platinum recording artist Kem. He has been covered by The Detroit News, Nashville Business Journal, Boulder County Business Report and other publications in print and online for his work in technology and new media. Via his Interviews Podcast, He has captured engaging and informative conversations with such personalities as Kevin Rose (digg.com), Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Justin Kan (Justin.TV), Mark Spencer (Digium), Kem (Universal Records) and others for your listening pleasure.

If you would like to experience Life Casting first hand click here and you can chat with him LIVE on the internet. http://www.justin.tv/ronaldlewis

ma.gnolia.com / Social Bookmarking

What is Social Bookmarking you might ask. It's a way thousands of people keep their bookmark collections on the a website instead of on just one computer. You can also find stuff other people like you who have the same interest. Think about it your only finding bookmarks that other people think are worth keeping then ma.gnolia.com could be finding the best of the web.

Furl.net / Social Networking

By bookmarking any site you find of interest on Furl, you can easily annotate, find it later, refer to it, and share it with others. All on a system with practically unlimited storage, accessible to you from anywhere on the web, at no cost to you. AKA Social Bookmarking.

digg.com / Social Networking

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online.

How do they do this? Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images to Podcasts — is submitted by our community (that would be you). Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see.

Track Your Comments / Social Networking

You post a comment on a blog. How do you know if anyone responded? You read an interesting post. How do you know when there are new comments?

Use co.mments to bookmark posts you want to follow. It tracks new comments for you, so you don't miss out. You can see all the new comments from your tracking page, or subscribe to the feed. When your ready to get started, just grab yourself a bookmarklet and start tracking. Click here to get an account.

A Fair(y) Use Tale

From Professor Eric Fade of Bucknell University comes this review of copyright law, explained in super-clever terms using snippets of video and dialog from Disney and Pixar animated films. Listen closely and there will be no further misunderstandings in the future. I think. BTW Disney has taken 17 story's from the public domain but has given even one back. A must watch for all Marketing professionals.

Creativity Bound by Law?

The Center for the Study of the Public Domain provides some easy to digest information were all dying to know about concerning the big circle C. More commonly known as copyright law. The Comic Book format can be read as a PDF or from a Flash enabled website that includes a magnifier.

LOBO

Motion Graphics at it's best. LOBO Check out the reel.

Freakonomics

Freakonomics in a word -- Word. Until now I didn't have any idea why crack dealers still live with their moms and real estate agents only see $150 more in commissions if they get $30k more than the asking price to sell your home assuming 6% standard commission.
BTW there is also a Freakonomics blog to stay current on Freakonomicology.

Where You At

Boostmobile.com is an excellent cell phone application that basically mashes up Google Maps with walkie-talkie like features while on the move. Watch this very funny Boost commercial and you'll get the idea.

A Biopsy of Power

What C.E.O.'s read
There is a great artical I read Saturday, July 21st, 2007 New York Times about the personal libraries of corporate leaders consist of more literature and poetry than business best sellers. You can read the artical yourself that interviews many well known people like Michael Moritz, Venture Capitalist; said the only business book he likes is Andy Groves, 'Swimming Across,' which has nothing to do with business but has everything to do with the emotional foundation of a remarkable man. He believes you should not follow your mentor, but follow your mentors mentor. He also reads T.E. Lawrence's 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom,' an exquisite lyric of derring-do, the navigation of strange places and the imaginative ruses of a peculiar character. He thinks it is the best book ever written about leading people from atop of a camel. Steve Jobs has great interest in William Blake - the mad visionary 18th century mystic poet and artist. Sidney Harmon, of Harmon Industries said, "Poets are the original thinkers of systems'. He reads 'The City of God' by E.L. Doctorow over and over. Shelly Lazrus, the charwoman and chief executive of Ogilby & Mather reads about different cultures, countries and problems, like Jerome Groopman's 'How Doctors Think'; John Cornwall's autobiography, 'Seminary Boy'; 'The Wife,' a novel by Meg Wolitzerand 'Team of Rivals.' She quoted David Ogilvy, "advertising is a great field, anything prepares you for it".

Bottled Water $?

Here is the real cost

Threadless.com

Okay I heard about Threadless.com in the New York Times this weekend and I couldn't resist but join up and make a submission. I'll let you know if it passes mustard and you can vote on it. It's a website that truly is part of the web 2.0 experience at it's finest. Story to continue.

End to End Design

The concept of 'End to End Design' or E2E Design explained. But first this quote.
It is just as inappropriate to have an engineer manage the design process as it is to have a designer who graduated from art college be responsible for the product's engineering details. Business, technical and creative elements must be active throughout all 3 phases of product development. Most importantly they should not be viewed as 3 silos but quite the opposite. This can leave room for an engineering team to offer some suggestions in the earliest stages and the design. The design team who has the prime responsibility of transferring the design to the engineers to insure the desired product design can be built while the engineers have the ultimate responsibility getting it ready for market on time. To go further the teams players should be allowed to play their specialize positions. The designers should not be producing nor should the engineers be art directing the design. Talking and working together? Absolutely.

Snapini Avatar

This wonderful avatar was sent in today from a fan and was instantly pronounced the official mascot of the Snapini.blogspot. Oh yes, another fan, a very talented one mind you sent another anti-avatar that represents the real me in a most frighting yet recognizable vein as the Simpsons. That will be posted shortly after some heavy duty Photoshop work first. If you like the shirt on the mascot you can purchase one almost like it from a little shop here on your screen.

Snapini To Launch Podcast

Yes it's true. When? Very soon. See the player to listen at your leisure.

Human Centered Design

Checkout how David Kelly of IDEO redesigns Prada flagship store and takes the 'human experience' of retail to a whole new level. It's the future.

Desktop 2.0

Somebody pass me the screen cleaner.


Cough, or how about for you guys who like to keep things messy so it looks like your busy/disorganized. Try BumpTop demonstrated here by Anand Agarawala.

Emotion vs. Reason 101

Human beings are essentially motivated by their emotions, not by reason. Emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusion. When reason and emotion are both in conflict the emotions win everytime. The real difference is the feeling you get when you see a brand. Before you can rationally understand it you intuitively get a sense or feeling of what it is that produces a postive emotion. That being the most significant difference. Certainly rationalizing is reassuring but the emotions are the most rewarding for the short and long term. If you are one who prides yourself making rational decisions I'm sorry to say you are in the very small minority. Understanding peoples feeling should always made a priority

First Responder Overload

You know the term 'feeding the trout', the act of somehow keeping everyone abreast of trends, is an impossible task. Having been privy to the making of one trend in no way prepares one to see the problems of the next. I'm not really sure whether this is because the next big thing is simply the outcome of hindsight or it is just human nature to proclaim ground-breaking work as the final solution there by preventing the next big thing. The younger generations who are all to eager to ride their own wave of experiences will discover answers yet to be thought about.

Trying to keep up with the latest technologies that surround us are primed and pumped to compound our sensory overload. I secretly wish the next big thing could be the elimination of system crashes, tedious down and uploading problems, missing links, incompatibility and stylistic design restrictions. When it means the most to me is when the communication is brief, simple, urgent. The advantage of multilevel, interactive, hypertextual and audiovisual forms of communication require a sophisticated thought process that are the birthright of all humans.

Are You Kidding Me?

Not to be confused with the post below. Just give this website a few seconds to load and make sure your buckled up. I would be in nirvana if I could get video selections as cool as this on a hand held device. I think the guy or team who thought of this was thinking, '"I'll make video technology hot enough to carmelize my eye's". www.eye.kddi.com

Veoh tv beta

Veoh is a new way to watch and broadcast Internet TV. You can find the very newest programming that isn't even available on good old TV, cable, or satellite. Watch it in full-screen, high resolution experience. Even use your remote control to sit back and enjoy the shows.

If your a publisher, upload your video to Veoh and it's automatically uploaded to YouTube, MySpace, and Google Video. Make money on your videos. Upload videos of any length, file size, or resolution. www.veoh.com

Race to Embrace

methtod reel cg montage classics. yum.
5 stars

Over the past 22 years I have watched science and technology accelerate it's insatiable thirst to master the senses. I believe knowing and understanding the importance of the senses decision making mechanisims in other words how the relationship to persuade decision making has been approached is myopic at best, overly rational especially in the states, and more metric than you can measure any one's imagination and ideas. A race to commodification, consistency, ease of production, efficiency justified in the end to control of power, rather than unleashing the intutive sixth sense. Connecting people with what they feel and want has never been more important--not just what can be delivered.

Give a Shout Out to Dad in Times Square.

www.dockers.com/dad

Silverlign.com works with their client Dockers to use the Human Network to send a message to dad. How? Click on the link above and send a personal Fathers Day message and watch it being shown via live cam on a huge sign in Times Square, NY. NY. Brilliant!

Great Emotional Branding

Emotion is pretty much the answer.

Around 70 percent of both sexes say that music is important to them because 'it elicits emotions and feeling." The next choice, is music's ability to "alleviate boredom."

The voice of the product, the voice of the consumer, the voice of our time-are to be taken quite literally. Hearing and talking are two of the most powerful forces in creating deep emotional connections with anyone. And you need them both. To talk without listening is to badger and heckle. To listen and not talk is to lose your personality, and the human connection stalls out.

Great brands are already into sound-and I'm not just talking full-production TV commercials. Retail environments, tradeshows, product design, phone messages, ring tones, brand signatures, radio, and social practices across the Internet. Some companies who build automobiles or audio equipment even pay attention to the silence.

Phone Salesman Amazes Crowd

A great inspiring story from the show Britains Got Talent. The audience has little expectation for this cell phone salesman until he brings them to their feet with an incredible performance of an extremely difficult song. I know it's kind of cheesy, but it simply takes your breath away. Bravo!

Global Warming Argument (Right Brain)

Personally, I always thought the whole global warming thing was a little bit overblown. I mean what's the worse that could happen? I don't like pealing sea slugs off my front door anymore than you. This guy uses a white board S.W.O.T. analysis for a most compelling argument. For a more entertaining demonstration of what he means watch the Blue Man Group below.

Earth to Humanity (Left Brain)

Blue Man Group has created a video piece that focuses on taking aim at one of our planet's most serious problems, global warming. You can watch and share the video entitled to "Earth to Humanity." Can You Hear?

Episode 2 XBOX IPTV

An amazingly rich user interface that has everything you could ever wish to do and never leave your couch for even longer sessions. You can even watch TV with your brother in college and chat live with your headset and still surf around picture in a picture with up to 6 screens at once.

Episode 1 PIMP MY XBOX

Do think we could do this for some of our more enthusiastic customers? Another design variation on steriods. Prop this thing up on the home bar and pass me

A Map

Click to enlarge

These countries have pretty much the same size economy as the states name it has replaced. It's just another reason why I personally think it's a good idea to invest globally.

bebo

Bebo is thee online community allowing you to share photos and blogs, draw on your own and other member's White Boards and, oh, a ton of other stuff too. A ton. Literally a ton.
www.bebo.com

PIXELODEON

What is Pixelodeon?
Pixelodeon is an annual independent video festival recognizing innovation, inspiration, and community in global online video. This is our inaugural year! Over 300 videos, four keynote speakers, two dozen curators, and several hundred people interested in independent media will get together in one weekend to celebrate the diversity and talent of online video content. If you want to see what’s happening online and meet the people who are making it happen, this is the place to be.
http://pixelodeonfest.com/
http://pixelodeon.pbwiki.com/

Listen and watch what our 'new' friend Roxanne Darling from Beach Walks with Rox will be flying in from Hawaii to lead a session at Pixelodeon on standard practices for media aggregators. Be sure to stop by her session on Saturday at DIY Tech and say Aloha!

Boy I had know idea I could do one of my favorite things -- a beach walk -- virtually again.

Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth

Photosynth Click on the photo
This amazing technology will change the way you think about digital photos. "Maybe this is what our ad agency meant when they said they wanted to use thousands of photos submitted by people from all over the world. No?" The Window's version of Photosynth is now available. Wouldn't it be great to use this as well for tradeshows and events by documenting a property from multiple angles. Why you may ask? Here is a quick list of what you can do.

• Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.

• Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photo whether it's megapixels or gigapixels in size.

• See where pictures wher taken in relation to one another.

• Find similar photos to the one you're currently viewing.

• Send a collection - or a particular view of one - to a friend.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/video.html

Wiki

PBwiki, Click on photo.
A PBwiki is an easy-to-use web page that mulitple people can edit. Use PBwiki to make a wiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich -- free.

"Reflection is at the heart of learning. A Wiki creates an opportunity for reflecting on your ideas and having other people come in and give you feedback on it and keeping it going."
http://pbwiki.com/

Visualization on a Thailand Budget

The Budget Graph
Where Was My Tax Gone, Click if you must.

I really dislike these kind of graphic posters. There is one such poster hanging of the USA across from my cube. Sorry Rich ; ) I would call this anti-inspiring. Or if you really like these why don't we do one for Marketing. There are enough media opportunities to satisfy all inquiring minds. Link was removed for your protection.

joost

Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping. This commercial discibes conceptually how it works.
But that's not all. It includes chat, intant messaging, search and more. Coming soon...you can write your own add-ons. Flip here.
Joost Show & Tell. Click on photo
The entrepreneurs behind Skype and Kazaa have a new venture: Joost V.P. David Clark gives Daniel Sieberg a preview of the free, global broadband TV service. You may have also heard recently that Mike Volpi has been appointed chief executive officer at Joost.
http://www.joost.com/

Twitter

Twitter You may have heard of it but have you tried it? Click on the photo.

If you really want to stay connected this is a lot better than MySpace or Blogging. A CBS News segment talks about it. Twitter may make the cell phone call the thing of the past. Learn how they are being used in presidential campaigns. You can communicate via cell phone to as many people as you like. Even Dell is using it RSS feed to notify you http://twitter.com/DellOutlet
The founders created Twitter in just two weeks by Obvious Corp.
www.twitter.com

Some Days

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laueate and one of America's best-selling poets. reads his poem "Some Days" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life. Collins popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY

The Poem -

Some days I put the people in their places at the table. Bend their legs at the knees if they come with that feature. And fix them into tiny wooden chairs. All afternoon they face each other. The man in the brown suit, the woman in the blue dress. Perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved. But other days, I am the one who is lifted up by the ribs, then lowered into the dining room of a doll house to sit with the others at the long table. Very funny, but how would you like it if you didn't know from one day to the next if you were going to spend it striding around like a vivid God, your shoulders in the clouds. Or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper, staring straight ahead with your little plastic face.

Welcome

Above you will find more or less a collection of ideas to stimulate your thinking regarding the ever evolving creative here in the group. A digitial attempt at creating a live personality board of sorts.